Stop The Presses: Rangers Break Out the Brooms

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I’d have been less surprised to see a September snowstorm in Arlington over the weekend than I was this:

A Rangers’ sweep of the playoff-contending Braves.

It will do nothing to lessen the pain of a nightmare season, but out of nowhere – and just a week after their manager abruptly quit – the Rangers gave hope of avoiding a 100-loss season by winning three straight games. At 57-92, the Rangers have only 13 games remaining. To avoid only the third 100-loss season in franchise history they have to go 6-7.

See, there is still drama in September.

Nobody saw this sweep coming. The Braves are chasing the Pirates for a Wild Card in the National League but, just like that, Colby Lewis pitched and Luis Sardinas hit and the Rangers closed out the weekend sweep with Sunday’s 10-3 romp.

It was just Texas’ second sweep of the season, and its first since beating the A’s three straight way back in April.

“We haven’t had a lot of positive to lay our hats on,” interim manager Tim Bogar told reporters after the game, “so this was a big deal for us.”

Led by an outburst from Sardinas, Michael Choice and Leonys Martin, on Sunday the Rangers matched their season high with 18 hits and scored their most runs since Aug. 29.

In a horrible hurricane of a season, last weekend proved a brief respite in the eye of the storm.

A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He currently lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.